After the spiritual energy was restored: Goddess girlfriends came knocking.

On the day of the imperial examination, Lin Chu got up before dawn.

He checked the test basket again.

He touched each item—pen and ink, dry rations, water bag, candlestick—one by one, to make sure nothing was missing.

Cang Yao got up even earlier than him.

She brought in a bowl of hot porridge, placed it on the table, and then put two boiled eggs into his basket.

"Should we bring two more pancakes? Just in case we get hungry—"

"That's enough." Lin Chu closed the exam basket. "It's not like we're going to jail."

Cang Yao pursed her lips and pushed the egg further in.

After finishing her porridge, Lin Chu stood up and straightened her collar.

When he reached the door, he turned back and looked at Cang Yao.

"Don't wander around while I'm gone for the next three days."

"it is good."

"Stay put at the inn."

"Um."

"If you need anything, talk to the shopkeeper."

"I know." Cang Yao leaned against the door frame. "If you don't leave now, you'll be late."

Lin Chu glanced at her, then turned and went downstairs.

The examination hall was located in the east of the city, occupying an entire street.

When Lin arrived, there was already a long queue at the entrance.

The candidates carried their exam baskets. Some were resting with their eyes closed, some were muttering to themselves, and some were flipping through a book repeatedly until the pages were almost worn out.

Lin Chu stood in the line and looked ahead.

The gate of the examination hall was high and narrow, with two rows of soldiers standing at the entrance.

After waiting in line for almost half an hour, it was finally his turn.

A burly clerk with a fierce face stopped him.

"Open the basket."

Lin Chu opened the examination basket, and the clerk reached in and rummaged through it, breaking open the dry rations to look at them, and then picked up the candlestick and tapped it.

"Unbutton your clothes."

Lin Chu opened her arms.

The clerk searched from top to bottom, and when he reached the neck, his fingers touched something.

He looked down and saw a small jade pendant hanging around Lin Chu's neck, only the size of a thumb, with a red string wrapped around it.

"What is this?"

Lin Chu looked down at it.

That was woven by Cang Yao during the New Year, supposedly for protection and good fortune.

"Amulet," he said.

The clerk picked it up and weighed it in his hand.

Lin Chu turned her head and glanced across the street outside the examination hall.

Cang Yao had followed us here at some point and was now standing on tiptoe, peering in our direction.

She wore a veil, but she was easily recognizable among a group of family members of test takers.

Lin Chu turned around and added another sentence.

"My wife gave it to me."

The clerk followed his gaze, clicked his tongue, said nothing more, and waved him inside.

The examination room was a bit more spacious than the one for the provincial examination. A wooden board served as a table, another as a bed, and a chamber pot was placed in the corner.

That concludes the next three days.

Every few dozen examination rooms, there was a Hanlin Academy student in charge.

They all possessed a righteous spirit, were well-trained, had piercing eyes, and had long, steady breaths.

Under their watchful eyes, no one, inside or outside the examination hall, dared to entertain even the slightest thought of cheating.

Lin Chu arranged the brush and ink, took a deep breath, and closed her eyes.

The clapper outside sounded three times.

The exam has begun.

The first exam was on poetry and prose.

The questions were handed out, and Lin Chu glanced at them.

The topic set by the examiners was "On Aspirations," and candidates were required to choose their own poetic form and write a poem expressing their aspirations.

When Lin Chu was grinding ink, the first thing that came to mind was not the rigid, formulaic style of classical Chinese poetry, but a poem.

He dipped his brush in ink and began to write.

How majestic is Mount Tai? Its verdant peaks stretch endlessly across Qi and Lu.

Nature bestows its most wondrous beauty, dividing day and night with yin and yang.

Zeng Yun was born with a chest swing, and he decided to enter the home bird.

It will be the top of the list, and the mountains are small.

Lin Chu put down her pen and read it over.

This poem is called "Looking at Mount Tai," written by the poet Du Fu. It describes Mount Tai, and how he found the Book of Myriad Realms while climbing it on Earth.

This poem is perfectly fitting for this world at this moment—the Xuan Tian Realm also has Mount Tai, also called Dai Zong, which every scholar in the Hao Ran Domain knows.

After he finished writing, he didn't rush to hand in the paper. He looked at it again and then put the paper aside to let the ink dry.

the next day.

This exam tests legal strategy.

He had systematically studied the laws of the Great Zhou Dynasty under Mr. Chen, but when writing policy essays, he never memorized the articles by rote.

He had a habit when writing legal essays: he would first write the legal provisions, then the reasoning, and finally the legal principles.

His ideas came partly from the books he had read on Earth and partly from his observations of the Great Zhou Dynasty.

It wasn't written in a very radical way, but it said everything that needed to be said.

The third exam focused on current affairs and policy.

This match is the most important.

Whether one can stand out in the imperial examination depends on their policy essays.

Every year, some candidates answer the first two questions well, but when it comes to the policy essay, they can only pile up allusions and talk about benevolence and righteousness.

Examiners are tired of the same old stuff; what truly impresses is someone who can offer concrete solutions.

The questions were handed out, and Lin Chu glanced at them.

"On the drawbacks of the national tax system and the way to reform it."

He leaned back in his chair and thought for a long time.

When he was on Earth, he developed countless plans.

Real estate solutions, cultural tourism solutions, branding solutions—the core of all these solutions is actually the same thing: identify the problem, analyze the cause, and propose a solution.

The same applies to taxes.

He began to write.

First, describe the current state of taxation in the Great Zhou Dynasty.

Then write down the reasons for the drawbacks.

Finally, a reform plan was written: land survey, unified tax categories, abolition of miscellaneous levies, and establishment of a tax register.

He wrote in great detail.

The document details how to survey and measure land, how to unify tax categories, and even how to establish tax registers.

He introduced the concept of "proportional tax rate"—taxes in this world are fixed amounts, calculated per acre, regardless of whether it is a bumper harvest or a lean year.

Lin Chu proposed levying taxes according to the proportion of the harvest, with higher taxes in bumper years, lower taxes in lean years, and no taxes in famine years.

This idea had never existed in the Great Zhou Dynasty.

The proctor passed by the exam room and saw Lin Chu still writing furiously. He glanced at her but didn't stop.

After finishing the last exam, Lin Chu put down her pen and stretched her sore and numb wrists.

For three consecutive days, I slept on a narrow wooden bed that was too narrow to turn over, and ate only the dry food I had brought with me. I was almost stale.

But I've written everything I needed to, so I have no regrets.

As he walked out of the examination hall, the bright light outside made him squint.

Then he saw Cang Yao.

She stood under the old locust tree across the street—another locust tree, similar to the one at home—and stood there for who knows how long.

Her veil fluttered slightly in the wind, and her eyes lit up the moment she saw him.

She jogged across the street, ran up to him, and looked him up and down.

"You've lost weight," she said.

"Only three days."

"You've lost weight in just three days." Cang Yao took his exam basket and carried it herself. "When we get back, I'll have the shopkeeper make some chicken soup."

Lin Chu followed her back.

"Do you come here to wait every day?"

"Um."

"Didn't I tell you to stay at the inn?"

"We're just waiting here anyway, whether we stay at the inn or here," Cang Yao said, walking ahead without turning her head. "If I wait here, you'll see me the moment you come out."

Lin Chu watched her retreating figure without saying a word.

Back at the inn, Cang Yao brought out the chicken soup and sat opposite him, watching him drink it.

"How did the exam go?"

"good."

Is "okay" a good thing or a bad thing?

"It's alright."

Cang Yao rested her chin on her hand and did not ask any further questions.

After he finished one bowl, she served him another.

"By the way," Lin Chu put down her bowl, "you didn't run into anything at the entrance of the examination hall these past few days, did you?"

"It's nothing." Cang Yao took the bowl away. "A few people just came over and started talking to me. They asked which family I was from and who I was waiting for."

"What did you say?"

I ignored them.

Lin Chu nodded.

Cang Yao carried the bowl to the door, then suddenly turned back.

"Oh, right, someone else asked me if my husband was taking the exam. I said yes, and then he left."

She pronounced "husband" so naturally, as if she had said it countless times, and then went downstairs with her bowl.

Lin Chu sat at the table, watching her figure disappear at the top of the stairs. A smile crept onto his lips as he picked up his teacup and took a sip.